MANCHESTER — An Arlington man was arraigned Monday after police said he crashed into a guardrail in Manchester in September and caused significant damage but left the scene without reporting the crash to police.

Alexander Richardson, 19, of Arlington, pleaded innocent in Bennington criminal court Monday to a misdemeanor charge of leaving the scene of an accident.

In an affidavit, Officer Daniel Steere of the Manchester Police Department said he was dispatched Sept. 18 to the scene of a crash on Barnumville Road at a bridge just west of the Route 7 overpass around 5:30 a.m. Steere said police had information that the crash happened about four hours earlier, but it hadn’t been reported.

Steere said he found debris from a vehicle in the road and “significant damage” to the guardrail on the bridge. From the vehicle, he found a headlight assembly and the vehicle’s license plate and frame.

Steere said the eastern end support pole for the guard rail was bent 80 to 90 degrees. Many of the support poles had been broken off, and Steere said the damage to those poles was significant along all 102 feet of the guardrail.

According to Steere, the other headlight assembly was found in the river.

Following a trail of antifreeze, Steere tracked the car along Winter Road to a jeep trail. About a mile from the crash site, Steer found two men sleeping around a fire pit.

Steere said there were beer cans and small wine bottles around the fire pit as well.

According to the affidavit, Steere woke one of the men, later identified as Richardson. Steere said Richardson admitted that he had been driving and had crashed into the guardrail, but said he didn’t think there had been any damage to the guardrail.